Erik Spiekermann interview

So it may just be because I think that everything this man does is amazing, but you should probably watch this interview by Gestalten TV as many times as you can.

He talks about his process which is always awesome. People usually talk about the same things when they go into process, but they usually have one little nugget of something that I can’t wait to try while working on my own projects. In this case, Erik talks about how he’ll leave a letter form, come back to it the next day, and draw it from memory. I’m always fascinated by artists’ idiosyncrasies in process be it in designing type, a poster, logo; writing a song, a melody, lyrics; creative writing, etc; those idiosyncrasies in process are what gives the fruit of our labor a style all it’s own.

Erik also has an interesting take on his ‘life’s work,’ which he describes as not being limited to the fonts he’s designed and projects he’s completed, but it branches beyond to the people he’s worked with, educated, and influenced.

I don’t know about you, but I love when people who really understand type and why it’s important for a typeface to be designed well talk about type. It helps me to feel a little more sane since after trying to explain the difference between legibility and readability several times to other “designers,” I can start to feel like I’m the crazy one.